The Hunt

In the morning the girls woke up to a knock at the door. Both of them jumped out of bed and crept towards the door. They were worried someone may have come looking for them, Elizabeth for example.
“Girls it’s time to get ready for your first day of work” Marvin called from the other side of the door.
Both girls relaxed.
“We’ll be out in a minute” Scarlet called back.
“We’re a bit paranoid” Ice comments as she goes over to her new cloths.
Scarlet and Ice rummage through their bags before they find the outfits they were after. Scarlet got changed first into a black Tee with a wolf's head printed in white across the front. Faded grey jeans and black sandals that wrap around the leg in rings to just above the ankle. Ice changes into a white baby-doll dress that reaches her knees and a deep blue belt. Scattered flower patterns in silver decorate across the bottom moving up with the last flower just reaching the belt.
“Nice dress” Scarlet comments.
“I was just wondering if it was a bit too glamorous for just a day in a store” Ice says
“Who cares if it is? You look great and you’ll have guys climbing over the top of each other to see you” Scarlet responds with a smile.
Both their smiles drop as their minds go back to the wonderful men they had left. Their tattoos burned on their skin feeling as if their legs would catch fire if this continued.
“Let’s go downstairs” Ice said breaking the silence.
Scarlet nodded and opened the door.

Once downstairs the girls found Marvin humming happily to himself from behind a newspaper. A red mug sat on the table in front of him. The contents resembled coffee and the girls realised just how much they craved a caffeine filled drink.
“Mm, coffee” Scarlet said looking around for a pot of it.
Marvin looked up from his paper and shook his head.
“No, we don’t have that terrible stuff down here” He said cheerily before sipping from the mug.
Both girls stared at him wide eyed. No coffee? How else would they get their caffeine hit in the mornings?
“Are you serious?!” Scarlet exclaimed.
“Of course, no one around here would willingly drink coffee” Marvin said standing up.
He moved over to the sink and rinsed out his now empty mug.
“This is why they call it Hell” Scarlet said dramatically as she fell into one of the chairs around the table.
Ice shook her head not as impacted by the lack of coffee as Scarlet was.
“Well what were you just drinking Marvin?” Ice asked.
“Oh you must try it, you will love it” He said grabbing two mugs from a cupboard above the sink.
He grabbed a glass jug and poured the thick black contents into the mugs. Scarlet wrinkled her nose not very willing to drink something that looked so awful. Ice, on the other hand, was willing to be a good guest and accept what the host offered. Marvin gave a mug to each of them and urged that they drink it. Ice shrugged and drank. It tasted wonderful.
“What is this?” Ice asked Marvin.
“A favourite drink of mine that I learnt to make from my grandmother” Marvin said clearly happy with his kitchen skills.
Scarlet, convinced it wasn’t poison, took a sip. The hot thick liquid was sweet but not too sweet. It easily rolled across her tongue and down her throat warming her insides.

“Yum!” Scarlet exclaimed licking any remainder of the drink from her lips.
She had finished the drink quickly. Although it couldn’t replace her favourite coffee, it was a close second.
“Girls, I open in five minutes” Marvin told them as he took their mugs and placed them in the sink.
“Time for action” Ice said standing then remembered that statement had been used not too long ago.
Ice glanced down at her burning ankle reminded of Mathew, Scarlet saw this and did the same thing without thinking. Both girls were too deep in love to be able to start new without the men they loved.
“Come on” Marvin urged apparently not seeing the sorrowful look in the girls’ eyes.
They nodded and followed him from the small kitchenette to the store it was joined to.
“Well that was just the staff room slash kitchen and this is obviously my store” Marvin told them.
“In that corner the shelves hold books containing spells and other useful things, this half of the store has basic ingredients for common spells as well as a few easily brewed potions that are in high demand.” Marvin explains pointing out the areas as he talked.
Ice perked up when he said about ingredients. He raised an eyebrow at her as if asking what had caught her attention. Scarlet glanced at Ice and knew exactly what she was thinking, the girls’ minds seemed to run on the same track so it wasn’t hard for Scarlet to know.
“She is desperate to know whether you have any…”Scarlet’s explanation was cut short when Ice finished the sentence by exclaiming “EYE-OF-NEWT!”
Marvin chuckles shaking his head.
“My dear, that is hardly useful for anything” Marvin tells her still chuckling to himself, “Now today I know you won’t know to much about the store so I was hoping you could instead serve costumers at the counter, would that be okay?”
“You want us to be checkout chicks?” Scarlet asks
Marvin smiles then nods.
“Sure thing boss” The girls say in unison as they salute him.
Marvin laughs shaking his head at the girls. It would take him awhile to get use to their strange behaviour.

The store had been open for ten minutes and without a costumer around the girls were bored.
“Can’t we brew some potions?” Ice asks while leaning against the counter.
“Or have a water fight?” Scarlet suggests not overly interested in magic.
“What about a water and magic fight?” Ice asks straightening up.
“And we could invite randoms from the street to join us” Scarlet plans getting an evil look in her eyes that means pure mischief.
“Then we could use much more places to hide and make surprise attack”
“And build teams”
“to pit against each other to be the conqueror of main street in Hell”
“It would be remembered for generations as the all out war that caused Hell on one street”
“We would erect a statue of the winning team”
“And have massive parades and mock wars on the anniversary each year!”
By this point the girls were bubbling with excitement as their imaginations ran wild with the simple idea.
“Scarlet and Ice” Marvin said from behind a shelf in a fatherly tone
Both girls looked at him and laughed. He couldn’t help but think he had taken in the most insane people but also the most important. The bell at the front of the store rang indicating a costumer had arrived. All three excitedly turned to see the first person to enter the store today. The girls couldn’t believe who stood before them